Ethical analysis of a curious event of a forensic case becoming an involuntarily hospitalized psychiatric patient

It is not uncommon in forensic psychiatry that the duty to care for the patient conflicts with the responsibility to the court, or the duty to protect the public from harm from the potentially dangerous patient-offender. This paper exemplifies the scenario of what happens when the line between forensic and clinical psychiatry is crossed and whether crossing that boundary can be justified. Ethical discussion also embodies and clarifies the issues of unjustified violation of the patients’ autonomy and an undue infringement on their right to liberty on the arbitrary basis of existing or perceived mental illness. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of the issues of physicians’ conflicting duties, vulnerability of patient-offenders, and their human rights in the light of court orders and involuntary hospitalizations.

I argue that in order to promote ethical decision-making we must establish clear rules and guidelines for psychiatric practice, separate conflicting roles, and provide sufficient training of health-care professionals regarding topics of human rights and legislation governing clinical and forensic psychiatric practice. Empowering patients and enhancing their rights to autonomy and liberty can also be potent tools of promotion and protection of their human rights and prevention of ethical breaches in practice.     

A call for minds: the unknown extent of societal influence on the legal rights of involuntarily and voluntarily committed mental health patients

This article begins and ends with a call for more empirical research to understand the connection between societal views of mental illness and the legal system. The author asserts that changing social perceptions of mental illness certainly affect legal outcomes and commitment levels, but the degree remains unknown. This article explores the above two topics through the framework of the Circuit Court 'split' regarding the Constitutional rights of persons committed to state mental health institutions. A main facet of the 'split' is centered on the Circuits' disagreement about whether or not all mentally ill patients committed to institutions deserve the same Constitutional protections.     

A comparison of partner and solo arsonists

Data on 225 adult arsonists arrested in a metropolitan county over a four-year period were systematically gathered. In each case 83 variables related to the arsonist and the arson were examined. The presence or absence of a partner in crime clearly differentiated two groups of arsonists . Partner and solo arsonists are characterized by a different level of social functioning and a different burden of mental impairment and criminal history. By focusing on the partner variable, it also becomes clear that the characteristics of the offense are related to those of the offender.     

A comparison of recidivism measures

Three categories-self-reported, F.B.I., and Florida Division of Corrections-of measures designed to tap recidivism are compared. When comparisons are made using different baseline measures, it is observed that variation is greatest between rather than within categories. Further, when two log-linear regressions are fitted where only the recidivism measures are different, the results are radically different. The findings demonstrate that all recidivism measures are not necessarily equally valid or reliable and that the use of different measures can produce discrepant findings.     

中文笔迹性别差异的研究

目的考察中文笔迹的性别差异。方法采用中文笔迹测验材料对236名大学生的书写样本进行了测量,并对笔迹特征进行了统计分析。结果男性的书写水平低于女性,男性书写速度比女性快,男性笔迹较潦草,轻重疾徐的节奏感较弱;男性书写时所留页边比女性小;男性笔迹的连笔比女性多,转折角度比女性大;男性笔迹的字行间距大于女性。     

A quantitative comparison of smokeless measurements

Measurements of the type and concentration of propellant and stabilizer additives in smokeless gunpowder are used by forensic scientists investigating the source of explosives and by military laboratories assuring the safety and efficacy of munitions. The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently assessed the state-of-the-practice of smokeless powder measurements through an international measurement comparison exercise. We here present results provided by the five participants (of 20 total) reporting quantitative as well as qualitative values for two handgun reloading powders. All five of these participants reported values for nitroglycerin (NG), ethyl centralite (EC), diphenylamine (DPA), and N-nitrosodiphenylamine (NnDPA). Several participants additionally reported the concentrations of secondary stabilizer decomposition products. The unstable NG propellant additive appears to be more susceptible to method-specific calibration biases then are the stabilizer additives. All results from one participant were strongly biased relative to those of the other four. The within-participant measurement uncertainties for all analytes were self-reported to be 1 to 5% relative; among the four concordant participants, the measurement ranges are 5 to 10% relative. There was little consistency among the participants as to what components of measurement variance were included in their uncertainty statements. A discussion of the certainties in these measurements and factors that affect the accuracy of gunpowder additive determinations is presented.     

A microscopic comparison of fresh and burned bone.

Examination of the microstructure of human bone is useful in estimating age at death in forensic science cases. This technique has been tested and is well accepted, however samples of burned bone may complicate analysis because of possible changes in the microstructure occurring during the burning process. In a comparison of fresh and burned ground thin sections taken from midshaft femorae of eight dissecting-room cadavers of known age and sex, this study finds significant shrinkage of microstructural elements through the burning process. These results are compared to previous work on the subject, which found the microstructural elements to increase through the burning process.     

A methodological comparison of Ronald Coase and Gary Becker

This short paper comparatively studies Ronald Coase and GaryBecker from the methodological perspective. Since Becker's analyticalapproach is known to be a very general one, when Becker's andCoase's analytical approaches are compared, it is natural toassume that Becker's approach will be the easy winner. Thisanalysis shows, however, that the opposite turns out to be thecase. Two criteria (generality and applicability) are used tomake the assessment.     

A comparison of respondents in initial and recommitment hearings

Legislators and researchers have focused on one aspect of civil commitment: initial commitments. Many patients, however, remain in the hospital after their initial commitment expires and, thus, must be recommitted if they are to remain in involuntary treatment. Demographic, clinical, and treatment data were collected on 374 adults having initial or recommitment hearings during a 3-month period at a large state hospital in Virginia. Respondents in initial commitment hearings were younger and displayed acute symptoms; recommitment respondents were older with symptoms of chronic psychopathology, especially those associated with schizophrenia and organic brain syndrome. The subject of recommitment patients and hearings needs to be a focus of future research efforts to determine whether these differences are reflected in a greater relative gap between the letter and practice of the law in recommitment hearings.This research was supported by grant No. R03 MH44065-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The financial assistance of the Institute for Research Development of the Human Sciences Research Council is also acknowledged. This article was written while the first author was a postdoctoral fellow in Clinical Services Research, NIMH grant No. 5T32MH17184-06.     

A comparison of animal jaws and bite mark patterns

The purpose of this study was to compare the jaw shapes and bite mark patterns of wild and domestic animals to assist investigators in their analysis of animal bite marks. The analyses were made on 12 species in the Order Carnivora housed in the Mammalian Collection at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to metric analysis, one skull from each species was photographed as a representative sample with an ABFO No. 2 scale in place. Bite patterns of the maxillary and mandibular dentition were documented using foamed polystyrene exemplars, which were also photographed. A total of 486 specimens were examined to analyze the jaw and bite mark patterns. A modified technique for measuring intercanine distances was developed to more accurately reflect the characteristics seen in animal bite marks. In it, three separate areas were measured on the canines, rather than just the cusp tip. This was to maximize the amount of information acquired from each skull, specifically to accommodate variances in the depth of bite injuries.     

Democracy and political corruption: A cross-national comparison

Past research on democracy and politicalcorruption produced mixed results becauseof differences in sampling and analyticalmethods. Moreover, an important shortcominghas been researchers' focus on detectinglinear effects alone. In the current study,I statistically controlled for potentiallyconfounding economic factors and usedhierarchical polynomial regression toevaluate the form of thedemocracy-corruption relationship. Resultsshowed that a cubic function best fittedthe data. Despite eruptions of corruptionamong intermediate democracies, theconsolidation of advanced democraticinstitutions eventually reduced corruption.Ultimately, the initial politicalconditions and the final democraticachievements determined the magnitude ofpolitical corruption in a country.     

A qualitative comparison of smokeless powder measurements

In the spring of 2000, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and nineteen participants conducted a comparison of smokeless powder additive compositional measurements. The purpose of this exercise was to determine the state-of-the-practice for forensic smokeless powder determinations. For the comparison, two handgun reloading powder samples were mixed and were compositionally evaluated for homogeneity by NIST. Participant laboratories included military, academic, and state/local, federal, and international forensic agencies. We solicited qualitative data identifying nitroglycerin, diphenylamine, N-nitrosodiphenylamine, and ethyl centralite. In addition, some laboratories provided identification of additional ingredients, such as nitrocellulose, or reported other measurements, such as dimensional morphology. In this paper, laboratory identification of the smokeless powder additives and a summary of the measurement methods used for the evaluations are presented. All laboratories correctly identified NG and the major stabilizers. Some disparity between laboratories was noted for the identification of minor (<0.01% by weight) stabilizers and stabilizer decomposition products.     

A microfluidic device for presumptive testing of controlled substances

A simple microfluidic device (MFD) has been developed to perform multiple color and crystal tests for controlled substance analysis. The MFD method uses less sample and reagents and generates less waste than traditional spot plate methods while performing several tests simultaneously. This methodology provides significantly more analytical information for a single sample analysis. The current generation device is the size of a microscope slide with four analytical channels: one for microcrystal tests and three for color tests. The optimized devices were subjected to a rigorous validation study using comparative replicate analyses and several operators. Target analytes were methamphetamine, amphetamine, cocaine, and oxycodone and color test reagents used were the Marquis, Simon, and cobalt thiocyanate. For the crystal tests, platinic chloride was used. The validation study showed the MFD's limits of detection to be in the picogram range. Positive tests results were observed in complex mixtures in which the controlled substance was present at concentrations of 5-10% (w/w). The microcrystal reagents showed greater sensitivity than color test reagents when used in the device. Reagent use and waste generation using the devices was 95% less that that used and generated using the traditional methods. The device performance was also shown to be operator independent.